The instruments are bigger than they are!!

We thought you may like to see Wade and Hunter as they are learning to play their new instruments.

Wade chose the bass clarinet. As you can see in the photo, it is much larger (and heavier) than a normal clarinet. It has a rich, deep tone. He has only had it for two weeks now, and he already knows eleven notes. He can play "Ode to Joy" beautifully!!

Hunter had the option of violin, viola, or cello. As you can see, he chose the cello. And because his hands are so big, he got the largest one in the class! (It is a 3/4 size, for all you music people out there). He is not allowed to use the actual bow yet, just plucking notes so far. He is doing a great job.

Needless to say, Milly's petite little oboe looks quite different compared to these giant instruments. We have quite an orchestra at our house now. Levi plays his little recorder when he wants to join in...

A tribute to Linda

Last weekend we went up to Taipei to pay tribute to our friend, Linda Phillips, who is retiring after 30 years of service with the International Mission Board. She has been working as librarian at the seminary in Taipei and has held instrumental roles in several Chinese churches on the island. We all gathered to have her "going away" party. The celebrations was entitled "Jeans and Jewels" in honor of Linda's casual, easy-going style and also her professionalism and her value (like a jewel) to the people of Taiwan and to us as fellow laborers. The photos were taken on the seminary campus at the Taiwan mission museum. Establishing this museum has been Linda's pride and joy. It is quite a collection, and the items and narrations beautifully tell the story of the history of IMB mission work in Taiwan. She will now retire and head back to America. Please remember Linda in your prayers as she transitions back to the States and says "good-bye" to her home the the people she loves here! Thank you for your years of service, Linda!!! We love you!

On a funny note: We were explaining to our children about the celebration before we arrived, telling them we were going to honor "Aunt Linda" for so many years of service as a missionary, etc. Levi's one questions was, "Do you mean she is even older than Dad???"

Levi's first day at Si Chang Li

Levi had his first day of kindergarten on Friday. He is going to Si Chang Li Elementary School. It is a public elementary school close to our house in Taichung. He was a little bit anxious about going back to a Chinese school. After a summer of being at home, he has forgotten a lot of his language! But we hear he will pick it up again quickly. His teachers' names are Teacher Hu and Teacher Ding. Our plan is to hold him back a year since he has a late birthday. Next year, Levi will probably go to Morrison Academy with his siblings and have another year of kindergarten there - unless he loves this new school so much and decides to go onto Chinese first grade! Way to go, Levi!! Jia yo!! (Chinese for "way to go")

First day of school!

The Curlee kids started school this week! This group photo was taken Monday morning before the first day of school. They are now in the following grades: Milly - 7th, Wade - 5th, Hunter - 2nd. Levi will start kindergarten next Friday at his Chinese school, Si Chiang Li. All of the kids have had a really great first week - thank you for your prayers as they have had to adjust to another school.

All three of the older kids are especially excited about all of the extracurricular opportunities they will have at MCA this year. Milly's electives this quarter are band (oboe), math club, mosaic art class, drawing art class, and one on defending your faith. Wade is very excited about his first opportunity to play in the band - he is hoping to play the trumpet. And Hunter will take a beginning violin class two times a week after school! Levi just found out he can play on the elementary tee ball and soccer teams at MCA even though he won't be going to school there yet since he is technically kindergarten age. Please continue to pray for the kids as God brings them to your heart this school year!

The photos below were taken at MCA on Monday morning. The first one is of Hunter and two of his new friends, David and Ivy, outside the second grade classroom. The second is of Wade seated at his 5th grade desk. The boy sitting behind him is Nathan, one of Wade's new friends.

P.S. We obviously survived the typhoon last week! Sorry to not keep you posted. It ended up being just a big rain storm with some wind. Thank you for your prayers!

Typhoon is Approaching

We have been in Taiwan more than a year and a half and have yet to experience a "real" typhoon. Last summer we had a few small ones, but when they hit the island they were downgraded to tropical storms. Tomorrow night a big one is supposed to hit -- see potential track below and satellite above. Usually, not much damage is done -- just a lot of wind and rain. After it is over we will let you know how everything turned out.

The Curlee kids go to basketball camp!

This week is basketball camp at MCA. On Monday, Wade and Hunter put on their new Upward basketball outfits (thanks to the Gables:)) and were all ready to go. Levi put on his Upward outfit to match his brothers. The photo is of the three boys right before I registered them for the camp.

During registration, the camp director commented on how our family was already a team in itself! As I registered the two boys, he asked me, "What about him?" (pointing to Levi) I told him Levi was only five. "He can come too!" was his prompt reply. Levi was very excited!! The only glitch was that he was already signed up for swimming lessons during the same time. So....each day he goes to basketball camp until 10:15, then to swimming until 10:45 then back to basketball.

The same camp director is also holding an afternoon camp for middle and high schoolers. After much agonizing, Milly decided to participate as well. She is on the Cavaliers team. I can't say she loves it as much as the boys do, but she is doing very well and meeting some more people here. She even received the "shooter of the day" award today!

The boys have all gotten awards, too. Wade got "shooter of the day" on Tuesday. He was on the Suns team but was traded today to the Jazz team. Hunter, on the Pistons team, received "passer of the day" on Wednesday. Levi, on the Cavaliers team, received "rebounder of the day" on Wednesday - he set a new record of the youngest ever rebounder of the day.

Taiwan Tea

Taiwan is famous for it's tea. They have many types of tea that we have come to love. Milly's favorite is pearl milk tea. Page's favorite is green tea. Keith's favorite is black tea (this is a lot like NC sweet tea). Wade also likes pearl milk tea but can only drink it before lunch as the sugar and caffeine in the tea makes Wade super hyper. Hunter likes Nestea from 7-11 and Levi does not like tea. He prefers a drink called C.C. Lemon. This is like lemonade but with carbonation.

Hannah has tried many of these teas and decided her favorite was fruit tea. The picture above is of the "girls" sipping their fruit tea as they rest from an afternoon of shopping.

We have enjoyed having Hannah here for the past 2 1/2 weeks. We thank God that she was able to see our home here in Taiwan and we were able to see her. She will be flying back tomorrow and returning to the States on Wednesday.

Mission trip to Taimali!!!

Keith, Milly, Wade, and Hannah just returned from their mission trip to Taimali. Taimali is a very small town located in the southeast part of the island. A group of about 30 workers headed to Taimali (some missionaries, some Americans on a short term trip, and some Chinese from local churches in Taipei and Taichung). We had a very successful trip. Through an English camp, we were able to teach not only English, but also the gospel message. In the end, we had many accept Christ into their hearts and 16 were actually baptized!! Praise God. Above is a picture of Taimali taken from the local Baptist church. A dog in the middle of the road would never survive in Taipei. Below are some more pictures of the trip.

Wade working hard in his group. Wade shared his English skills each day to some high school students.

Hannah sharing the gospel to two of her students. Of course, she had a translater, named Sophia, help her tell the story.
Keith and Milly overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Taimali. It was a great view!!!

Hannah has arrived!!!

Hannah Steele, a good friend to our family and former babysitter to our kids, arrived today!!! We were all so excited to see her. She will be with us until July 31. Next week, Keith, Hannah, Milly, and Wade will head to Taitung (see map below for location) to help on a short term mission trip. Taitung is in the south-eastern part of the island. They will be joined by some other missionaries, some people from the States, and some believers from Taiwan. The team will be putting on an English Bible Camp. Please join us in prayer that many will come to know Christ next week and many churches will start!! Thanks.

Levi -- 5 Years Old!!!

Levi celebrated his 5th birthday on July 10!!! He had a fun day as another family (the Freeman's) from Taipei came down for the day to help celebrate Levi's big day. He had a blast swimming with his buddies and opening all of his presents. Thanks for all of you who remembered him and sent him a present or e-mail.

Taipei Party

Milly and Page went back up to Taipei this last week to celebrate Milly's 12th birthday with all of her Bethany girl classmates. They had a big slumber party. Joy and Milly (see picture) share the same birthday so they had a great time of celebration. Page and Joy's Mom chaperoned the party -- with not much sleep. Milly enjoyed her time and will miss her Bethnay friends.

Milly turns 12!!!

Milly turned 12 years old today. She is excited. Page and Milly headed to Taipei today to have Milly's birthday party with her old classmates from Bethany. She is going to have a sleep over with about 15 girls. I don't know how much sleep they will actually get though.

All the boys are in Taichung and hopefully we will all survive without the girls here to take care of us.

When Milly and Page get back we will post some pictures of her party.

Page turns 39!!!

Page turned 39 on Saturday. We had a fun day as we went to "Tiger City" Mall and Page shopped around for her presents. After picking out several small things we enjoyed a meal at Chilis. Yes, they do have Chilis here -- one in Taichung and two in Taipei. The staff at Chilis brought her a piece of cheese cake and she had to stand up on a chair as they sang happy birthday to her in Chinese and then in English.

The picture of Page and her "boys" was taken right after we got back from the mall.

Thank you to all of you who sent her an e-card or e-mail to wish her a happy birthday. It meant a lot to her.

Taichung- for Wade

I thought ya'll would want to hear what Taichung means to me so here it is. First of all I want to give you the pluses (sorry, no minuses) for Taichung and Taipei. One of the good things in Taichung is that we get to own a house- not an apartment and it also has five whole floors! (even though one is a basement.) One of the weird things about our house is that we only go out of it by the basement that doesn't have a normal door. Another plus for Taichung is that we have a swimming pool that we don't even have to drive to!( we didn't have one in Taipei.)And the last plus for Taichung (that I have) is the basketball court. It takes just as long to get to the swimming pool as it is to go to the basketball court. I also decided that (if I could) I would play some basketball every day. Now for Taipei. Just about the only reason I miss Taipei is because of my friends, but I'm sure I'll get new ones. The last big thing that is good about Taipei is thier fried dumplings. So far we haven't found that but we'll find it sometime. Now I want to talk more about our new house. Like I said, it has five floors. I live on the fourth floor with Hunter and Levi. We have a "computer lab" on the third floor and. . .Oops I almost forgot, the fifth floor is our TV room. Now the second floor. It is sort of a living room and a dining room at the same time. Even though it's our living room I don't spend much time there. And the last floor is the basement (I said there was a basement) and there's hardly any room there because we have a huge van blocking the way! Well, that's our house. The only thing that makes the Taichung swimming pool different than a normal swimming pool is that it has two diving boards- one is a very low and one is very high. Well, that's what Taichung means to me. It will mean a lot more once I get used to it.

Taichung...according to ME

Hi, this is Milly (aka Mildo - this is for you, Melonhead!) here. Ok, so we moved to Taichung...ya'll know that. My mother said I had to write positively, so here. Taichung is uh...okay.(I guess) The pool is kinda cool, but it kinda helps if you have friends. Anyway, we all loved Taipei and it was hard 2 move. So like pray 4 us. It is like SUPER hard not 2 have any friends. Even going to the pool isn't nearly as fun without friends. I am getting a little negative here, so I am going 2 starting talking about the new house (it is hard to be negative about that). Okay, well, I mainly live on the 3rd and 4th floor, although I occasionly come down to the 2nd to eat :). My room is REALLY cool (even if it is smaller then the one in Taipei). It has green walls to match the leaves of the flowers on my matteress. And a pink curtain to match the flower petals on the matteress.



We also have A LOT of book shelves for my collection (that is still growing) of books and rabbits. Dividy, my dwarf-hamster, seems happy. The boys share a room and their's is like really cool, too. They have two walls that are green and Wade and Levi have bunks. Hunter has his on bed. Their room is really big so three people can easily live in it. We have FOUR bathrooms (2 are half-baths, like with out the bathtub and shower head)! On the 3rd floor is the comp room (office) and Mom and Dad's room. They have this HUMONGEOUS bathroom! The 2nd floor is the kitchen/dining room/ den. And on the 1st floor is the garage, a bathroom, and the shoe rack. Oh yeah, and on the 5th floor is the TV rooom (it is SUPER small).



On 1 of the balconies is the hamster play- area and on the other is the washer and dryer. This sounds pretty big, right? But get this: the actual ping is smaller then our Taipei apartment! So, all in all, our house is pretty cool. I have some pics of the things I was talking (or typing, for that matter) about and you can guess what they are of ( I don't feel like explaining it). So like pray 4 us to make new friends, I have a feeling we will adjust quickly. Luv y'all!

Our new home

Here are a few pictures of our new place in Taichung. Our new house is 5 stories!!! So, we will get plenty of exercise moving up and down the steps. The picture above is our 2nd floor, which includes a kitchen, dining room, and small den.

This is a picture of the front of our house. On the bottom floor there is a garage to park our van and some storage. You can not see the 5th floor -- but it is a small room (our TV room) and then two balconies on either side of the TV room. Our washer and dryer are on the 5th floor balcony. The picture below is a view from that balcony. The last picture is of our courtyard area. As you can see, it is a real nice area and we have already met several neighbors, who seem very friendly.

We're Moving!!!!

As you can see by the picture, we have officially started packing up for our move to Taichung. We will be staying in a guest flat in Taipei for a few days before we make our move on Friday. So, we will not be blogging until we get settled in our new city. Check back in a couple of weeks and we should have some pictures of our new apartment and community.

Rain, rain, and some more rain!!!

For the last few days it has been raining (I mean pouring) constantly over the whole island. Our Chinese friends tell us that it usually does this right before "Dragon Boat Festival" which among other things ushers in summer for us here in Taiwan. Dragon boat day is based on the lunar calendar so it falls on different days depending on the year. This year it is really late and is on June 19. All the rain makes for some long days as the kids are home and we are trying to pack. Hopefully, the sun will break through soon.

On a different subject, the picture below is of our spiritual language teacher -- Mrs. Lu. She is a wonderful teacher and we will miss her so much. She has taught us many things in Chinese -- including how to say our testimonies, how to explain sin, the meaning behind John 3:16, and how to disciple new believers. She also has helped our everyday language and consistenly and constantly helps us with our tones. She is a demanding teacher but an excellent one. She will be missed.

Last Day of School!!!

All the kids finished up with their school last Friday. They all were sad to say goodbye to some good friends and teachers. We caught all of them on picture, except for Milly, who did not want to be caught on camera. Thanks for remembering our children, they had a great year and a half in Taipei and we are expecting for them to form some great friendships in Taichung.

Good bye to our English Students

As we enter summer time here and due to our move to Taichung, we are coming to a close in some things here in Taipei. As Page described on our last blog, we will be changing language schools. Also, we will no longer teach our English Bible study to these students pictured above. We have really enjoyed getting to know these young people and have enjoyed spending one hour a week with them for these last two and half months. We feel many seeds were sown and continue to pray that God will work in their hearts.

My last day at Taipei Language Institute (TLI)

My last time at TLI was this past Friday, so I brought my camera with me to take some pictures. This first picture is Mr. and Mrs. Chen. They have a little tea shop on my way to school, so I always stop here and buy a green tea. He is Taiwanese, and she is Philippino. I talk with him in Chinese and with her in English. I often wonder how they talk with each other - but I guess they have worked out a system. :)

This next photo I took of Keith as he was cramming for his first hour of class. His first hour on Fridays is with his hardest teacher, who demands perfection on tones. Isn't he cute?

This picture is of the green tea I buy each day from the Chen's. I wanted to show you how cool the cups are here - they seal them with a special machine so that even if you turn them upside down they won't leak. You just poke your straw through the top and you're ready to drink!

My final photo is of me and my favorite TLI teacher. Her name is Teacher Xiao (pronounced shee-aw). She taught me my very first language class, starting all the way at the beginning with the first Chinese phonetic alphabet sounds - and she has taught me every day since then! She taught me how to write my name and address in Chinese. She also taught me Taiwanese cultural things. She, too, is a believer in Jesus. I will never forget one day studying how to say "every" - everything, every person, every year, etc. She said to me this sentence in Chinese - "Every person needs Jesus." I knew right then we were kindred spirits! On Monday, I told her (in Chinese), "When I move to Taichung, I will miss you." Then I went into the bathroom and cried! I am very thankful God has placed Teacher Xiao in my life. I am also thankful that she is from Taichung and will hopefully come to visit me when she is there!

This week will be our last week of spiritual language study here in Taipei with Teacher Lu. I will blog again after our last lesson with her - I hope I won't cry then, too!

Wade, Hunter, and Keith -- Camping in Taiwan!!

Wade's cub scout troop decided to end the year with a camp out. Those of you who know us well, know Keith was thrilled with this idea!!! Actually, Keith would prefer to stay in his own bed with air conditioning. The scouts went to "Camp Taiwan" -- which is about an hour drive from Taipei. They ended up having a great time. Hunter especially liked the climbing wall (see picture above). He was one of the few to make it to the top. Wade loved the zip line. (See pictures below of Wade on the zip line and Keith about to go on it.) They returned dirty, tired and sun burned but glad they went.

Page Visits Levi's School

Last Thursday, Page visited the Chinese pre-school that Levi attends. The school wanted all parents to visit. Page was pleasantly surprised of the amount of Chinese that Levi knew and understood. Levi really likes his school and will miss it when we move to Taichung. Friday, June 1st is his last day and his class will throw him a party. The top picture is the name of his school --Precious Blood Kindergarten. The other two pictures are action shots of the class.

Going Shopping by Bike

Milly and Page were about to go shopping for some clothes tonight, and instead of hopping into a car and Page driving them (like they would have done in America), they hopped onto a bike and headed out. We do have a car here, but we really don't drive it too much. It is really -- I mean really-- hard to find a parking place. When we go places around here we either walk or ride bikes. The quickest way for us to get around is by bike. We have six bicycles -- all of us own one. However, from time to time one of the kids will get on the back of one of the adult's bike (like picture above).

Happy Late Mother's Day!!!

Happy Late Mother's Day!!! We hope everyone had a special day!! They do celebrate mother's day here and many of the restaurants are packed with people. So, we celebrated by ordering take out each meal. For breakfast, Keith went to McDonald's and ordered everyone their favorite meal and brought it all home. For dinner we called in pizza and ate with several friends. The kids all either made or bought Page some special presents. Above is the traditional mother's day picture we take each year.

Bethany has Spring Concert

The elementary school on Friday night had their annual spring concert. Both Hunter and Wade had parts in the production. Hunter was part of the flock of "lambs" who sang some very pretty songs. Wade played "Brian" in a play. He said his lines very loud and clear.

Levi enjoyed the spring concert with one of his pals, Cole.